The Giro for Primoz Roglic, the Tour de France for Jonas Vingegaard and the Vuelta for Sepp Kuss. The Jumbo-Visma armada could not have dreamed of better and has just achieved what no other team has been able to do in the history of cycling: winning the three grand tours in a single season. Beyond this feat, the surprise lies in the identity of the last winner, since it was the usual lieutenant of the leaders, Sepp Kuss, who won the Vuelta on Sunday September 17.
On Saturday, during the arrival of the penultimate stage in Guadarrama, the 29-year-old American crossed the finish line, arm in arm with Roglic and Vingegaard, although the big favorites at the start of this Tour d ‘Spain. “It was a very special moment to experience this with my two teammates”smiled Kuss, the first American to win a grand tour since Chris Horner on the Vuelta in 2013.
During the final stage through the streets of Madrid, which served as the closing ceremony on Sunday, the model teammate was able to celebrate his unexpected change in status. Until then, within the yellow and black formation, Kuss was the one who accompanied and protected the leaders on mountain climbs. Indispensable, he had been a major player in the Dutch team’s six victories on grand tours since 2019.
Often portrayed as the best lieutenant in the platoon, Kuss had come to terms in recent years with not taking on the role of team leader. “ I don’t have the mindset of a candidate for victory on a grand tour. I have resilience, I work hard, but there are also all these little sacrifices, and having to be focused on all the details, every day.”he explained to Eurosport in 2020.
The problems of the rich of Jumbo-Visma
During this Tour of Spain, this status fell on him, at the finish of the 8th stage in Xorret de Cati. Winner two days earlier of the 6th stage at Pico del Buitre, in the mountains, Kuss then took the red jersey of leader of the general classification. Without having too many illusions about what happens next: “Of course, keeping the red jersey until the end would be nice. But I don’t have enough control over timings. »
During the time trial of the 10th stage, in Valladolid, the American nevertheless limited the damage and kept his red jersey. The start of a puzzle for the Jumbo-Visma, to know to whom to attribute the status of leader in this Vuelta, between Kuss, well anchored at the head of the general, Roglic, already triple winner of the event (2019, 2020 , 2021), and Vingegaard, double winner of the Tour de France (2022, 2023) and who aims to win all three grand tours.
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